After greeting everyone she cared about, Kiana began cleansing Earth of Honkai.
She gathered all Honkai energy onto the Moon, ensuring Earth's safety. Everything was finally over.
A forest...
"This is where we first met. Even after the Previous Era's Finality destroyed everything, this grove still bloomed."
Gazing at Elysia beside him, Chang Yuan spoke to himself.
But he knew—the one who had always listened to him was already gone. What stood beside him now was nothing but a puppet, a hollow comfort.
Pulling out a shovel, Yuan began digging into the earth.
"You know, Elysia, I fell in love with you at first sight. Cough—well, saying that about childhood might sound a bit creepy. But in the end, the destined lovers got their happy ending."
He rambled about the past, the future. With every word, the hole grew deeper.
Elysia's consciousness had fallen dormant after transferring her Authority to Raiden Mei, leaving her unaware of the outside world.
Had she known, she would never have let Yuan continue.
Anyone could see what he was planning.
But without Elysia's active will, this puppet could only watch.
Occasionally, Yuan would glance back at her.
"Sometimes, I'd almost believe you weren't just a puppet—that you were still alive. But now, even as I do this, you don't stop me. So it really was just my delusion."
Over the years, strange occurrences had made him wonder if Elysia still lived.
But he never dared test it. He feared it was all his imagination.
Now, with nothing left to lose, he decided to try.
And the result proved his hopes were just fantasies.
Once the hole was deep enough, Yuan stopped.
Then, effortlessly, he shaped a massive boulder into a tombstone.
He carved his name into it.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted elsewhere.
"F*** you all! You f***ing played us?! It was all just an act?! I'll f***ing kill you!"
Upon learning the truth, Tesla unleashed a storm of profanity.
Thankfully, Welt Yang remained calm and held her back.
"Apologies. Someone had to play the villain. But now, we must find that man immediately. With Honkai energy sealed, we can only rely on conventional power sources."
"Satellites are scanning worldwide. You at Anti-Entropy must assist. Hurry—who knows what those Previous Era survivors might do next."
Otto shrugged, addressing Anti-Entropy's members.
With Honkai nearly gone, most Divine Keys had lost most of their energy. While not entirely useless, their power was drastically reduced.
They could no longer conduct pixel-perfect global scans as before.
Had Honkai energy still been abundant, energy wouldn't have been an issue. But now, 99% of it was sealed.
Hence, Otto sought Anti-Entropy's help—more hands meant faster results.
Tesla wanted to refuse, but Otto's friendly glare convinced her to cooperate—temporarily.
But Yuan had anticipated this.
He'd secretly stolen a signal-jamming device from Vill-V and had Otto remove its backdoor.
Now, Yuan's signal had vanished from the world entirely.
Vill-V had unknowingly screwed over her own ally for the first time.
With Anti-Entropy joining the search, the rescue team expanded.
If not for Kiana being occupied with sealing 99% of Honkai energy, they might've even asked her to locate Yuan.
Elsewhere...
"You always said I was your whole world. But weren't you my world too? Yet unlike you, who loved everything... my love was only for you."
Clutching a keychain shaped like Earth, Yuan murmured to himself.
Then, gripping it tightly, he lay down in the hole.
He manipulated Elysia's puppet to bury him alive.
To ensure death, he injected himself with a serum—Vill-V's special concoction to revert a MANTIS to an ordinary human.
As his body weakened, the suffocating weight of the soil pressed down.
He even slit his wrist with a small knife.
Then, he closed his eyes forever.
Meanwhile...
With its master consciousness gone, Elysia's puppet collapsed beside the now-destroyed signal jammer.
Yuan hadn't wanted her to stay with him.
Even as a vegetable, cared for in a hospital bed—that was better than death.
Slowly, suffocation set in.
Vision darkened. Senses faded.
His consciousness blurred into nothingness.
"Elysia... A world without you means nothing. I'm coming to find you."
Snap—!
"And that's the end of today's story, little Chang Ya. Time for bed~♪."
A pink-haired woman gently patted another pink-haired girl's head, her voice dripping with affection.
But the little girl tilted her head, puzzled.
"But Mommy, if Daddy died, then where did I come from? And isn't Daddy still alive? Uncle Kevin even got caught with him at the internet café last time."
"Cough—Never mind that idiot. If I say he's dead, he's dead. He can just revive tomorrow. For now, pretend your dumb dad's gone, okay?"
Annoyed, the woman pinched Chang Ya's cheeks and lightly pulled.
But the girl wasn't fooled. "But Daddy is alive! He took me to see Auntie Pardo yesterday!"
"Shush! Keep talking, and I'll spank you."
"Pfft—you just like bullying me. I'll tell Daddy to spank you instead!"
"Oh? That useless man wouldn't dare."
"Really? I don't believe you~."